"We have called back from banishment your brothers, who had been
hunted forth from the councils of Constantine and Constantius, because
we desired to give liberty to all citizens of the Roman Empire. And
for the complete suppression of discord, we confide to you, wise
teachers, the duty of settling for Galileans a single and unique
profession of faith. It is to this end that we have convoked you in
our palace. Judge now, and authoritatively decide. In order to afford
you full freedom of speech we will withdraw, and await your wise
decision."
Before anyone had time to grasp the situation, or to answer this
strange discourse, Julian, surrounded by his philosophic friends, left
the court and disappeared.
Everybody was dumb. Someone uttered a long sigh, and in the general
silence the beating of pigeons' wings and the rippling of the fountain
alone were audible. Suddenly, on the raised marble daïs, which had
served as tribune for Julian, appeared the kindly old man at whose
provincial bearing and Armenian accent everybody had laughed.
His face was red, his eyes burning with vehemence. The Emperor's
speech had offended the old bishop. Filled with fearless religious
zeal, Eustace advanced towards the members of the council--
"Fathers and brothers," he exclaimed, and his voice was so stern and
unshaken that no one thought of laughing at it--"Fathers and brothers,
let us part in peace! He who has called us here, to seduce and to
insult us, knows neither the canons of the Church nor the rules of the
councils. He hates even the name of Jesus! Let us not be a sport to
our enemies, let us restrain all angry words! I entreat you, in the
name of the eternal God, let us separate in silence!"
He pronounced these words in a loud and ringing voice, his eyes fixed
on a raised gallery, curtained by purple hangings. The Emperor,
surrounded by his Hellenist friends, had just appeared there. A
murmur of fright and astonishment ran through the assembly. Julian
gazed at Eustace, but the old man sustained his gaze. The Emperor's
face grew dark.
At that moment the Donatist Purpuris brutally thrust off the bishop
and took his place on the tribune.
"Do not listen to him," cried Purpuris; "do not let us separate, in
scorn of the will of Augustus! The Cæcilians bear a grudge against
him, because he has delivered us."
"No, in all truth, no, my brothers!" protested Eustace.
"Leave us, ye accursed! We are not your brothers! We are the
wheat-ears of God--you the straw destined for the burning!..." And
waving his hand towards the apostate Emperor Purpuris continued in a
solemn tone, as if chanting a nuptial song--
"Behold our saviour! Look on him!... Glory, glory, to the most
compassionate and learned Augustus!... Thou shalt trample on the snake
and the reptile! Thou shalt conquer the lion, for the angels watch
over thee in all thy doings.... Hail!"
The congregation became unsettled. Some declared that the advice of
Eustace must be followed. Others asked to be heard, not wishing to
lose the opportunity of expounding their doctrines before a general
religious council. Faces kindled and voices rose.
"Let a Cæcilian enter one of our churches now" exulted Purpuris, "and
we'll place our hands on his head, not to choose him as our shepherd,
but to crack his skull!"
Many forgot the purpose of the meeting and engaged in subtle
discussions, seeking converts. The Basilidian, Triphon, who hailed
from Egypt, surrounded by curious hearers, exhibited a transparent
chrysolith amulet, bearing the mysterious word "Abraxa."
"He who shall understand the meaning of the word _Abraxa_," Triphon
was saying to the group around him, "shall receive all freedom, shall
become an immortal, and, tasting all sins, be sullied by none.
_Abraxa_ represents by letters the number of the mountains in heaven,
three hundred and sixty-five. Above the three hundred and sixty-five
celestial spheres, above the hierarchies of angels and archangels,
there is a certain Nothingness, nameless, and more beautiful than any
light, a motionless and sterile Nothingness...."
"The motionless and sterile nothingness is in your own stupid head!"
growled an Arian bishop, striding straight up to Triphon.
The Gnostic, according to his custom, became silent, locking his lips
in a contemptuous smile, and raising a forefinger--
"Wisdom! Wisdom!" he ejaculated, and vanished in the crowd.
The prophetess of Papusa, among her anxious Copts, stood up, terrible,
pale, half-swooning, and groaned, as if her troubled eyes saw nothing,
as if her ears heard nothing--
"_Maran Atha_"--"The Lord is coming!"
The disciples of the youth Epiphanes, a Pagan demi-god or Christian
martyr, worshipped in the oratories of Cephalonia, were declaiming
brotherhood and equality--
"There are no laws but these: Destroy all; let all be in
common--women, lands, riches, like earth, air, and sun!"
The Ophites, serpent-worshippers, raised above their heads a cross,
round which a tame adder was coiling--
"The wisdom of the Serpent," they said, "gives man a knowledge of
good and evil; behold the saviour, Ophiomorphos, the serpentiform!
Fear nothing! Hearken to him! Taste the forbidden fruit, and ye shall
be even as gods!"
A perfumed and curled Marcosianist, lifting on high a crystal cup full
of water with the skilful gestures of a juggler, invited curiosity--
"Look at this miracle! the water's going to boil and be turned into
blood!"
Colabasians were there, counting their fingers with inconceivable
celerity, and demonstrating that all the numbers of Pythagoras, every
mystery of heaven and earth, were comprised in the letters of the
Greek alphabet--
"Alpha, Omega--the beginning and the end, and between them the
Trinity; Beta, Gamma, Delta--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!
You see how simple it is!"
Fabionites, gluttonous Carpocratians, debauched Barbelonites stood up,
preaching such follies that hearers possessing a vestige of morality
put their fingers in their ears. Many strove to move their audiences
by the attractive force over the imagination possessed by madness and
monstrosity. Every man was certain of his own gospel. Yet all were
enemies. Even the minute sect, hidden in remote provinces of Africa,
the Rogationists, were certain that Christ returning upon earth would
find the true comprehension of the Gospel only amongst themselves, in
a few Mauritanian villages, and nowhere else.
Evander of Nicomedia, forgetting Juventinus, could scarcely scribble
down the new heresies on his tablets fast enough, happy as a collector
who has lit upon a new set of trinkets.
And meantime, in the upper gallery, the young Emperor, surrounded by
his white-robed philosophic friends, was gazing down upon the
maddened tumult with malign satisfaction. The Pythagorean Proclus,
Nymphidian, Priscus, Ædesius, old Iamblicus, the pious bishop
Hekobolis, were at his side. They neither laughed nor jested. Their
faces remained almost impassive and their attitude a becoming one;
only from time to time across their closed lips flitted a furtive and
pitying smile. From the shadow of the purple hangings they looked down
on the spectacle, as gods must regard the hostilities of men, or
circus-lovers the beasts of the arena. It was indeed a banquet for
Hellenic sages.
In the midst of the general confusion the effeminate young Caïnite
leapt on the tribune and shouted, with such conviction in his voice
that everybody turned round, overwhelmed at the impiety--
"Blessed be rebels against God! Blessed be Cain, Shem, Judas, the
inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah! Blessed be their brother, the Angel
of Infinite Darkness!"
The bishop Purpuris, who for an hour past had not been able to get a
hearing, to relieve his feelings rushed at the Caïnite and raised his
sinewy hand to close the lips of the blasphemer.
A crowd dragged him back.
"Father, it is unbecoming!"
"Let me be, let me be! I will not endure such abomination," roared
Purpuris; "take this, seed of Cain!"
And the bishop spat in his face.
A general fray followed, which would have enlarged into a battle if
Roman soldiers had not intervened. These parted the Galileans, with
the words--
"You must not act so in this place! Have you not got enough churches
to fight each other in?"
Purpuris was dragged off, and ordered to quit the atrium.